Introduction: Papers from JASAL 2017

<jats:p>Welcome to the Special Issue on JASAL 2017 which was an event organized by the Japan Association for Self-Access Learning (JASAL). JASAL 2017 was held at the self-access learning center (SALC) at Kanda University of International Studies in Chiba, Japan on December 15, 2017. The theme of JASAL 2017 was “Enriching Self-Access Environments”. At the conference, both the presenters and participants explored how they are being creative in enriching their self-access environments with the resources they have. This special issue contains contributions from teachers, advisors and students from universities within Japan, as well as from educators based at a university in Mexico who joined the conference. Some authors explore work in new SACs, some look at more established SACs, and some examine independent learning which takes place outside of SACs, both in and out of classrooms. All of the writers give insight in how to create rich and stimulating environments for learners to grow and develop in. As you will notice, we have included papers written in Japanese as well as English in this issue. One of our initiatives as a Japan-based association is to draw more Japanese educators and administrators into JASAL. We are pleased to publish these papers in Japanese.</jats:p>